Paul is my favorite character. He has a wonderful personality and a unique training style, which has landed him into some trouble, but he is a different character from what the anime typically provides. Ash didn't consider him as a friendly rival; in fact, it was more like they were enemies. Either way, Paul made Ash want to train better. His personality does give him a bad reputation with just about everybody in the fandom, but I liked it. It was cold, ruthless, and almost mean. Still, he was smart and knew how to battle along with coming up with a variety of strategies. His training tactics were also pretty dang good, especially with him nearly forcing Chimchar to evolve, although that didn't work at all. I thought it was creative.

He pushed his Pokemon to limits they probably never dreamed about, but most of them pulled through anyway. I liked the rivalry he had with Ash as well as his character development in the anime, which is a novelty within itself. He developed from being an ass to a nicer ass. That's why I love him.